


Karma Demands

by shrift



Category: Smallville
Genre: First Time, Humor, M/M, Wildly Improbable Mutants
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-05-13
Updated: 2002-05-13
Packaged: 2017-10-04 05:53:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shrift/pseuds/shrift
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>That was the funny thing about action movies. They always showed the big, climactic crash scene, but never the part after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Karma Demands

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to: Nestra, for audiencing and beta-judo-comma-chop, Swa, for cheerfully enabling the fannish crackwhore, the Buffistas, and Te.

Lex stood there, white hands tucked into the pockets of his black overcoat, light from the flames licking over the skin of his face.

"Lex..." Clark said, rocking back on his heels.

Lex made a sound deep in his throat, halfway between a grunt and a hum. It snagged on Clark's ears and poked a shiver between his shoulder blades, his hands curling into fists as he stuffed them inside his own jacket pockets and shifted from one foot to another.

"Lex?"

"You know, Clark," Lex said, tilting his head, still staring at the fire, "if you decide you want to stay in Smallville when you grow up and don't think you're cut from the farming cloth, it looks like automobile insurance will continue to be a strong growth industry."

"When I grow up," Clark parroted back, barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes when he remembered he was trying to be contrite here, and getting annoyed wouldn't exactly earn him any maturity points. "Nobody wants to be an insurance salesman when they grow up, Lex."

Lex shrugged. "Maybe I'll take up walking. Walking's safe, right?"

"I'm sorry?"

"Oh, it's not your fault, Clark," Lex smiled, lips tight and off-center, almost registering as sincere. Clark unclenched his hands and took a step forward before he thought better of it, then just swayed there for a minute.

Lex looked tired, his nose and ears growing red from the cold. And he wasn't asking any questions about why his black Porsche was steadily burning twenty yards into the Potter's bull field, with feathers and bits of expensive car shrapnel smoldering in the clover.

And while Clark was relieved that Lex wasn't asking what he was doing here miles out of town on foot -- really, _really_ relieved -- it kind of worried him that Lex wasn't curious. Or that if he was curious, he wouldn't let Clark know it.

Clark hated lying to Lex, but Clark suspected Lex hated being lied to even more.

The wounded look on Lex's face the last time Clark had lied through his teeth about his powers really had made that way more obvious than a hunch.

But how was he supposed to explain a wild chase through the woods in pursuit of a giant green chicken with a yen for exotic sports cars, anyway? Nobody could explain that and keep a straight face. Clark was just barely repressing the urge to flap his arms and say, "Buck buck buckawk!"

If only because then Lex would think he was a complete dork instead of mostly a dork.

He suddenly found himself wondering if Lex had ever done the chicken dance. One of Clark's distant cousins had gotten married last year in Kentucky and his mom had dragged him onto the dance floor to polka; it had scarred him for life. Now the mental image of Lex dancing it burned its way into his brain and it was so hard not to _laugh_.

Dada dada dada da.

"You don't strike me as the walking type, Lex," Clark said to erase the damning image from his mind.

Lex turned his head slightly and smiled his bland smile, the nearly blank one he used when he couldn't be bothered to reply to a question. He turned on his heel and walked back towards the road, the flames casting flickering shadows against the uneven surface of his scalp.

And wow, Lex seemed like he might be pretty pissed.

Clark followed. "I'm really sorry about your car, Lex," he tried again.

"It is okay, Clark." Lex stopped and glanced over his shoulder at the burning wreck. "Someone already proved that it was far too easy to break into that twisted slag of metal formerly known as my car. I don't seem to have much luck with Porsches."

Someone had broken into Lex's black Porsche and planted a CD player while it was parked outside the Talon. Lex hadn't been driving it lately. Clark knew because he remembered all of Lex's cars. Pete insisted it was a guy thing. Chloe insisted it was a nascent stalker thing.

Clark figured they were both right, but it wasn't like Lex's vanity plates were hard to spot unless you were legally blind.

"Bad karma?" Clark suggested.

Lex twitched his lips. "I don't believe in karma, Clark."

Clark ducked his head and dug the toe of his work boot into the soft ground, then looked up from the bruised clover. "Your other option is a giant mutant chicken trying to mate with your car, Lex."

Lex blinked once, then looked down and brushed a green feather from his coat sleeve. "Bad karma it is," he nodded.

"Walk you home?" Clark offered.

Lex took a moment to look around the ruined field. "You said this is the Potter's bull field."

"Yeah. Why?"

Lex smiled then, a little more relaxed, a little more smugly normal. "If we get charged by their bull, it's every man for himself."

Clark laughed. "You'd sacrifice me to the bull?"

Lex raised his eyebrows, the action folding his forehead. "A Luthor would do no less."

Gravel crunched under their shoes as they moved from the shoulder to pavement. "I don't believe you," Clark said.

"Oh?"

"Nope."

"The Minoans used to sacrifice their children to a bull. Well, technically, they probably slit the bull's throat and drained the blood for the sacrifice, but mythology's hardly accurate from a anthropological perspective."

Clark gave Lex a sideways glance. "Do you have a labyrinth in the castle?"

"Not so I've noticed."

"Then I guess I'm pretty safe, King Minos."

Lex made a soft, amused sound, and they lapsed into silence, the soles of their shoes scuffing lightly on the pavement. The moon was only half full, but bright enough so they weren't stumbling over road kill. Lex's Porsche still burned hotly. Clark figured that even though the bull field wasn't in sight of the Potter's house, the fire department would be along pretty soon.

That was the funny thing about action movies. They always showed the big, climactic crash scene, but never the part after. The part where the heroes walked home in the dark and cold with grass-stained knees, wondering if there were any more giant mutant chickens roosting in the woods.

The crashing part was easy. Explaining how it all happened to the police and property owners after the fact? Clark didn't like that so much.

"You know, Clark, I've been meaning to ask you something."

Clark caught the toe of his boot in a pothole and stumbled a little. "What?"

Lex glanced his way. "How does anyone afford insurance in this town?"

"Oh." Clark squinted at him. "I haven't really thought about it."

"I almost feel bad for the property damage assessor," Lex said, hunching into his coat. "This is the third time in as many months. I think he's running out of plausible deniability."

"Um," Clark said, searching for some kind of silver lining, "at least you'd pass a breathalyzer with flying colors?"

Lex chuckled. "Somehow I don't think that will matter if I start explaining why the grill of my car is currently sporting a charred green feather boa."

"Maybe your car's a transvestite?" Clark offered.

"Any car of mine would have better taste than to wear lime green, Clark."

Clark grinned. "I'm sure your cars only wear purple, Lex."

And there it was, Lex ducking his head to conceal a smile that Clark just knew was real. He'd seen it maybe once or twice before when he'd said or done something to make Lex forget to control his face.

It made him feel like bouncing.

Which Clark guessed wasn't a very manly reaction, but it wasn't like he was planning on telling his dad.

"I'm glad you're here," Clark said.

Lex glanced up at the night sky. "Well, Clark, I can't imagine walking with anyone else on a rural road outside of Smallville in the middle of the night after my car's been sexually molested by a rogue farm animal."

"No, I mean, yeah, me either," Clark said. "I mean, I'm glad you stayed. In Smallville."

Lex's voice was soft. "Are you sure about that, Clark?"

"Yeah," Clark said, voice a little rough and catching in his throat. "I'm sure, Lex."

And Lex just looked at him like he hadn't known, and maybe that was fair because it hadn't really hit Clark right away. What it would mean if Lex moved back to Metropolis.

It wasn't like Clark cared all that much if his source of concert tickets and limo rides disappeared into thin air. Sure, Lex had helped Clark seem less of a loser to everybody at the high school, and he had to admit that was pretty cool.

It was easy to let Lex be generous with his money, and maybe that's what his dad had meant when he made Clark return the truck.

Just... no more Lex. No more weird conversations, no more dropping in unannounced because Lex never looked unhappy to see him, no more pool tournaments he always lost, no more trying to figure out what Lex was thinking all the time. Lex sometimes made him feel naive, true, but he was the only person who treated Clark like an adult, who didn't act like Clark was a flake. Who paid enough attention to know something was going on, and stopped pushing when Clark told him to back off.

When he was younger, losing a friend to the big city had always seemed like the end of the world. _A_ world, maybe, if not the whole shebang.

Funny that he might have been more in touch with the reality of things when he was eight.

"I've had friends, Lex," Clark said, "but I've never had a friend like you."

And just like that, Lex's face went hard and flat like marble. "Maybe you shouldn't."

Clark stopped in the middle of the road and grabbed the collar of Lex's jacket. "Don't say that. You're my best friend."

"Am I?" Lex said, head tilted back to meet Clark's eyes. And it occurred to Clark that this wasn't something he could say just to rile his parents. Because Lex wouldn't take it casually. Wouldn't take it at all if Clark didn't mean it.

Someone close to him, Cassandra had said, someone close would die. And who had he warned? His parents.

And Lex.

Clark nodded. "Yes."

Lex's eyes dropped.

And Clark realized Lex was staring at his mouth.

Clark let go of Lex's collar and dropped his hand, his fingers brushing against the cool, smooth skin at Lex's wrist, and the contact made his insides twitch. He might have stopped breathing for a minute because he felt a little dizzy.

It wasn't any kind of dizzy Clark was familiar with, the kind that came with Lana when she wore her necklace or when he got too close to Crater Lake.

Clark felt his face go hot, felt the flush prickle on the back of his neck, and he thought maybe he liked Lex looking at his mouth like that. With his eyes and mouth half-open.

Maybe Clark had been liking it for a while now.

And maybe that scared the hell out of him.

"Why are you still helping me with Lana?" Clark blurted.

"Because you want her," Lex said immediately.

"Oh," Clark said. _Oh_.

"Oh," Lex repeated a little mockingly.

"You want what I want."

Lex's mouth crooked sideways. "Maybe," he drawled.

Clark frowned and shifted, his hand brushing against Lex's again in a cool slide of skin. "What if I don't want Lana anymore?"

"Don't you?" Lex looked skeptical.

And Clark was thinking maybe he didn't, because once he'd taken Lana off her pedestal and gotten to know her, he'd realized she had some flaws that made her less attractive, less perfect. He rarely caught himself worrying about her, found he didn't think about her much anymore when she wasn't right there. She was still beautiful, and Clark still wanted her, but now the thought of telling Lana what he really was sometimes made Clark want to curl up and die.

He didn't think he could ever tell her the truth, and Clark didn't think that was the way relationships were supposed to work. Not while he wanted to tell Lex the truth so badly he sometimes thought he already had.

His fantasies about Lana had never progressed all that far.

And neither had Clark, considering Lana had done a striptease in front of him and all he'd done was ask her to put her clothes back on.

"I've always wanted Lana."

Lex was nodding. "I rest my case."

"Lex --"

"I should get you home, Clark," Lex said, taking a step back and walking down the road.

"Lex, wait."

Lex half-turned, somehow swaggering while he did it. "Something wrong?"

"You may think you know exactly what I want, Lex, but maybe you don't."

Lex tilted his head. "What do you want, Clark?"

Clark grinned in spite of himself. "Maybe I don't know that, either."

"Okay."

"Okay. Just like that?" Clark asked.

Lex shrugged and started walking again. "Just like that."

Clark hurried to catch up with him. "Are you giving me a hard time?"

Lex smiled, and his teeth gleamed in the darkness. "Who, me?"

Clark snorted. "Come on, Lex."

"Awful lot of 'maybes' there, Clark," Lex said. He looked Clark right in the eye, his voice dark and smooth like Sunday coffee. "When you figure out what it is you want, you let me know."

Okay, wow. Clark's stomach bottomed out, and he licked his lips. "I --" he cleared his throat and tried again. "I'll do that."

And Lex just held onto the stare for another minute until his eyes finally slid off Clark's face like a gloved hand.

Breathing, Clark reminded himself. Breathing would be good.

Clark knew he was staring at Lex as they walked, but Lex seemed content to let him. Lex always said he was used to people looking at him. Now Clark wondered what everyone else saw when they looked at Lex. If their hands ached from wanting to touch all that bare skin, too. If they wanted to drag their fingertips over his scalp and throat, and press their lips on all his pulse-points.

Maybe that's why Lex kept his shirts buttoned up to the neck and rarely rolled up his sleeves.

It was probably too much to hope for that it was just Lex being naked while fully clothed that was some kind of irresistible draw. After all, Lex's skin didn't drive someone like Pete crazy.

But it made Clark want to lick the backs of Lex's knees.

So that just made Clark even more of a freak. He didn't think his parents were going to take this one in stride if he ever got around to telling them. Telling them that Lex Luthor had been flirting with him since day one, and that it hadn't taken much longer for Clark to figure it out and start flirting back.

On some level, he must have known what was going on. Clark just wished that level had shared the news with the rest of his levels.

"You've been very quiet over there, Clark."

Clark shrugged. "I've got a lot to think about."

Lex nodded. "Hm. I trust you'll give me a running start if your thought processes take a turn for the worse."

Clark gently nudged Lex with his elbow. "You worry too much." Lex narrowed his eyes. "And don't say anything about paranoia being your middle name," Clark said, "because I know it's not."

Lex glared out of the corner of his eye, but his mouth twisted like he was trying not to laugh.

The look on Lex's face made Clark want to kiss him, to feel Lex's cold nose pressed against his cheek. He'd never been the one to initiate it and none of the girls who had kissed him lately had been in their right minds at the time, which didn't say much for his track record. Pretty much leaving Lisa Powers, who'd kissed him on a dare at sixth grade camp.

Clark really wanted to kiss someone without any help from the meteor rocks.

He found himself leaning down, his nose nearly touching the tip of Lex's ear, some logical part of his brain demanding to know what he thought he was doing. This was Lex, and Lex was a guy. A guy who most likely had already had sex with more people than Clark would his entire life.

A guy who checked Clark out _a lot_.

A guy Clark really wanted to kiss.

Lex turned away to look at the ditch without warning, and Clark had to back off quickly to avoid bumping heads. "We've been on the Luthor estate for the last half mile," Lex said, searching the side of the road. "The drive to the castle should be coming up soon."

Clark hoped like hell he didn't blush when Lex turned back around to look at him. "Uh. Cool."

Lex lifted one faint eyebrow. "Something wrong, Clark?"

"Nothing," Clark said. Smooth. Real smooth. Next thing he knew, Clark would be trying the lame fake-out yawn and stretch on Lex and making himself look like an even more enormous dork.

He was glad he hadn't broken down and done the chicken dance. Clark was pretty sure they'd still be out in the Potter's bull field, where Lex would still be laughing his ass off. And then they wouldn't be going to Lex's house with its long, dark hallways and wide-screen TVs.

Lex's house, with Lex's room. Which had Lex's bed.

He wanted to bury his nose in Lex's pillow and just breathe.

Clark knew the mechanics of sex, and his health class teachers had always been pretty insistent that they all learn about anatomy and pregnancy. And there had been the mortifying talk with his dad that had a lot of throat-clearing and no eye contact, a talk that had started off with, "Son, there comes a time in every young man's life... " and ended with, "... so don't put the cart before the horse, okay, son?"

What he didn't know was how anyone ever got there, how they ever managed to get naked and sweaty in bed without dying of embarrassment or totally ruining the moment.

Did people do what Lana did that one time, just start flinging off their clothes? Drop to their knees and say, "Teach me how to blow you, Lex?"

Getting there. That was what he didn't know how to do. Knowing how people actually had sex was no help at all.

"Here's the drive."

Lex's voice startled Clark, and Clark found himself hoping his jacket was long enough to cover the bulge in his jeans.

He half-hoped it wasn't.

Lex keyed in the access code on a panel next to the gate, and it buzzed as the lock disengaged. Clark could feel the texture of the pavement change under the soles of his boots from the rough road to the smooth, black asphalt of Lex's driveway. It was strange to be here at night, following the winding, damp path to the Luthor Castle. Clark was usually here in the daylight carrying boxes of vegetables or making up reasons for stopping by to see Lex on his way somewhere. Even if Lex's house wasn't quite on the way to the Talon. Or to Chloe's, or Pete's, or pretty much anywhere else Clark was allowed to go.

Clark followed Lex into what he'd been calling the loading dock, the back entrance leading into the kitchen. Sometimes, like right now, it struck Clark as really weird that Lex lived in a house so big that he could put up more people than most area motels.

The cars were cool, but the castle always made Clark think of Stephen King novels.

Lex reached into his pocket and withdrew a shiny, silver keychain as he looked over his shoulder. "Coming up? Or should we be getting you home?"

If it was a challenge or a stab at responsible behavior, Clark didn't know. He just didn't want to leave yet. His parents weren't expecting him until late, and he'd swung by the house to check in right before he'd finally caught sight of the mutant chicken.

"I can stay," he said.

"Good." Lex flashed a smile and then unlocked the door. He walked through the dark house more quickly than Clark expected, sure-footed where Clark banged his elbow on the kitchen island. "I need to made a few calls," Lex said. "Why don't you see if that washes out?"

Clark watched Lex's back disappear around the corner before heading to one of the many bathrooms. He flicked on the light, and the brightness made him flinch for a few seconds. He had dirt under his fingernails and a smudge of mud on a cheekbone. Clark washed up and ran the bar of expensive-smelling soap under the faucet to get rid of his dirty fingerprints.

He wiped his hands on the thighs of his jeans instead of using the white, embroidered hand towels hanging next to the marble sink. Clark knew from experience that the green stains at his knees wouldn't be coming out, so there would be another pair of jeans relegated to the work clothes pile when he got home.

It was a good thing he didn't care about designer labels or his mom might make good on that threat to send him to school naked as the day he landed on Earth.

Lex was exactly where Clark expected him to be, standing next to his desk, portable phone held to his ear and his other hand tucked into his pocket. He'd draped his coat over the desk chair and was intently focused on some distant spot on the wall, lips twisted with displeasure.

He wasn't pacing because Lex didn't pace. Lex just stood still, making all these small, quick movements that took up all the space in the room.

"Well, I would have called you right away, Sherman, except for the small matter of my cell phone being locked in the glove compartment of the burning vehicle in question," Lex said.

He didn't look Clark's way, but Clark knew Lex was aware he had entered the room by the way he tilted his head. Clark took off his coat and wandered farther into the room, trying not to touch anything and entertaining himself by reading the titles on the spines of the books filling the bookshelf across the room.

And promptly discovered that Lex had a comic book hidden inside a leather-bound edition of The Iliad.

"Yes, Sherman, I stopped using my cell while driving after that unfortunate incident with the bridge and the nearly dying." Lex lifted his head sharply. "That would be your problem, Sherman. That's why we pay you. Take care of it."

The phone beeped when Lex disconnected, and he put the receiver down on his desk.

"Hard to get good help these days," Clark muttered under his breath, not realizing Lex had heard until he saw the brilliant flash of a smile pass over his face.

Lex turned to face him. "I used my considerable influence as a taxpaying citizen to convince the police to take a statement tomorrow," Lex said.

Clark knew what that meant. The local police had been wary of upsetting the Luthors after the whole thing with Tina-as-Lex robbing the bank. Clark figured they were just grateful Lex hadn't sued for defamation of character, or something.

"Yeah? Cool."

"They did find the roasted carcass of a giant chicken underneath my Porsche." Lex looked away. "Clark --"

Clark's gut did a couple of backwards crossovers, and heat flashed over his skin until he was cocooned in sweaty nausea.

It had all been going so well, with Lex not asking questions. Now it felt urgent that Clark explain a little, just enough so that he wouldn't have to see that wounded look on Lex's face again.

He hated that look.

Clark moved halfway across the room towards Lex, then stopped. "Don't."

Lex took a step closer, away from his desk. "Don't what?"

"Don't ask," Clark said.

Lex's hands were out of his pockets, hanging loosely at his sides. His fingers rolled into fists once, then uncurled. "Why not?"

"Then I won't have to lie." And Clark was suddenly less than arm's length away, close enough to see Lex avert his eyes again and look over Clark's shoulder.

"Everyone lies, Clark," Lex said as easily as breathing. And Clark couldn't tell Lex he was wrong.

Clark stepped sideways to connect with Lex's gaze. "Don't make me lie to _you_," he said.

Lex stared at him for what felt like forever. "Clark?"

"Just... not yet, Lex," Clark said. "Please."

"Okay, Clark," Lex said. His face was terrifyingly blank. "Not yet."

Lex turned around, and Clark wondered if it was just to show his back. The silence and space between them was awful, and Clark moved forward to fill it until they were almost touching.

"If I do tell anyone," Clark said, "it'll be you." A shiver ran down Lex's back, and Clark just wanted to be close enough to feel it. He stepped forward and blanketed Lex's back with his body, tucking his nose in the corner between Lex's jaw and ear. "God, I can smell you."

Lex went very still. "What are you doing, Clark?"

Clark had no idea. He guessed this was a point of no return, that somewhere between dodging a mutant chicken beak and wrapping himself around Lex like the cape on a marching band uniform he'd made a decision. Lex felt really good against him, warm and firm. And smelling so good he wondered if people like his mom followed him through department stores to ask what cologne he was wearing.

Lex's skin was right there, so Clark decided just to go with it. To forget what he didn't know and focus on what he wanted. He settled his hands on Lex's hips. Leaned in. And pressed his lips against Lex's warm, smooth nape. For a few seconds, Lex seemed to relax and lean back until his shoulder blades pressed into Clark's chest.

And then he tensed up again. "Clark, what --"

"I'm letting you know," he said.

"You --" Lex twisted around in his arms, and he looked so surprised that Clark had to kiss him.

Easier than he thought, dipping his head and pressing his lips to Lex's mouth. Soft lips already open, the inside all smooth and slick, teeth hard and sharp. He could feel Lex's hand against his chest and he hoped Lex didn't want to push him away because he wasn't done yet. Wasn't done yet at all. Clark licked Lex's upper lip and that just seemed to make Lex... hungry.

The kiss turned hard and messy, with Lex biting at Clark's lips. Clark hauled Lex closer and slid his hands down Lex's back, wishing he had the power to make Lex's clothes disappear instead of just being able to see through them. Lex shoved his thigh between Clark's legs and then sucked Clark's tongue into his mouth.

Clark whimpered. Really loudly.

This was way beyond good. So far outside of his past experience he found himself wondering why people ever stopped doing this once they started.

And that was a stupid thought because there was no way he could detassel corn or deliver produce with Lex's tongue stroking into his mouth.

God, Lex was good at this.

Lex pulled away a little, and their mouths made an obscenely wet slurping sound. And while they kind of stared at each other, breathing hard, Clark noticed that Lex's hand was clenched in his hair. Clark's hands were almost-but-not-quite on Lex's ass. And Lex's other hand was still on Clark's chest, resting over his heart and getting squashed between their bodies.

"Clark," Lex said. His voice was rough and a little breathless. Clark wanted to hear Lex say his name like that all the time.

"Yeah?"

"You're," Lex swallowed. Clark put his mouth on Lex's Adam's apple, and he could feel the vibration of Lex's voice against his lips. "Letting me know."

"Yeah." His skin tasted a little like salt, a little like sucking on a penny.

Lex's hand flexed in his hair. "You thought things over rather quickly."

Clark shrugged, and it had the unexpected result of rubbing his body up and down Lex's. "Had most of it figured out already." His voice was muffled, face still buried under Lex's jaw.

"Are you," Lex said, sucking in air through his teeth when Clark bit at the base of Lex's neck and then ran his teeth up to Lex's jaw. "Sure?"

Clark's body answered for him before he could speak, his hips pushing forward, hands sliding down to Lex's ass. Lex had to know Clark was hard by now, but Jesus.

"Fuck," Lex said distinctly. Lex pulled on Clark's hair and kissed him, open-mouthed and teeth clacking a little. Lex was kissing him like he wanted to eat Clark alive. When Lex dragged his hand down Clark's chest, down past the waist of his jeans and ran the heel of his hand down the zipper to squeeze him, Clark stutter-stepped them backwards against the desk.

"Lex --"

Lex sucked the moan out of his mouth. "Not here," Lex muttered, sliding his lips over Clark's cheek to mouth his earlobe. "Never get any work done again."

"Where?" Clark said. And if he sounded a little desperate, he couldn't blame himself while Lex was doing hot, wet things to his ear.

"Upstairs," Lex said.

And then Clark was walking them backwards so quickly that Lex laughed, head back, one arm curving around Clark's waist.

Clark thought maybe when they were done, he'd hold Lex down and make him laugh again so he could feel the way Lex's body moved against him.

Lex steered them through the door, and Clark had to let go so they could walk up the stairs to Lex's bedroom. Tempting, but Clark didn't think Lex would appreciate being carried.

Clark knew he was walking funny up the stairs and glanced over to see Lex staring at him, eyes glittering in the darkness. Lex very deliberately dropped his eyes to Clark's crotch and licked his lips. The only thing that saved Clark from a face-plant on the steps was the landing beneath his feet and Lex's hand sliding down his back, guiding him to the right door.

Through the doorway and Clark was untucking Lex's pale purple shirt before he wondered if he should start panicking yet. He didn't particularly want to freak out on Lex, but for some reason he thought he was supposed to. Then Clark's fingertips landed on the bare skin at Lex's waist and he forgot about everything but smoothing his hands upward to touch as much of Lex as possible. Lex leaned against him, knuckles brushing Clark's chest as he unbuttoned his shirt.

Lex's cufflinks made small thumping noises as they hit the carpet, and he shrugged off his shirt. Clark had always known Lex was lean from all the clutching and grabbing he'd done in the name of saving Lex's life. And with his shirt off, Lex did look thin. But in a solid way, not at all weak. With skin and muscle wrapped tightly around his bones, making it obvious that Lex didn't sit around all day with servants feeding him Godiva chocolate. Hairless there, too.

Lex's nipples were the same color as his lips.

Clark looked back up to find Lex smirking as if asking Clark if he liked what he saw.

Lex tugged at Clark's flannel shirt. "Off." Clark hesitated for a second before stripping off the oversized shirt without unbuttoning it, following it with long-sleeved T-shirt he wore underneath. Clark moved back in and the feel of Lex's skin against his own was something like a revelation. Warm and smooth, and so alive Clark wanted to rub himself all over Lex like turtle wax.

Clark licked Lex's shoulder and bit at the sharp point. Lex's shoulders were dusted with freckles the color of wet sand. Clark peered over Lex's shoulder to see that the freckles were thickest across his shoulder blades, so many that they almost merged together.

When Clark had pictured Lex naked, he hadn't considered freckles as a possibility on the miles of pale skin.

He found it unexpectedly hot. Wanted to lick them all.

"Clark?" Lex stopped sucking on Clark's neck, idly stroking his finger up and down the stretch of skin between Clark's belly button and the waist of his jeans. Clark figured Lex was asking how far he wanted to go, and the truth was that while panic was finally setting in from the way just Lex's hand on his belly was making his cock pulse, he wasn't ready to stop. At all.

He kept his eyes down when he stepped back and flipped open the top button of his fly with his thumb. Lex made a really hot sound in the back of his throat, something like a purr and a groan.

Shoes, Clark realized belatedly. Bending over seemed out of the question, so he just used his strength to break the heavy-duty laces on his boots and toed them off with his socks.

If his parents asked, he'd blame it on the chicken.

He hissed when he pulled down his zipper, the pressure easing a little. Then he just dropped his jeans and boxers and kind of threw himself on the bed.

The maroon silk sheets smelled like Lex.

Clark finally dared to look up. Lex stood at the edge of the bed, head tilted back and lips parted. Just staring, face flushed. And bare all over.

Everywhere.

The school locker room hadn't really prepared him for the sight of a naked bald guy who was really glad to see him. Hadn't prepared him to find it the best thing ever. And god, the freckles were on Lex's hips, too. Clark squirmed, wanting badly to touch himself. To touch Lex. Something. Anything.

"Nervous?" Lex breathed.

Clark shrugged awkwardly, naked and sprawled over Lex's bed. "Um. Kinda. Yeah."

Lex crawled onto the bed and prowled up Clark's body until he was straddling Clark's hips. "Think of it this way," Lex said, wiggling backwards until Clark's cock was riding firmly against his ass. "Me? I'm committing a felonious act with a minor. You? You're just getting laid."

Whether he was supposed to or not, Clark laughed and clutched at Lex, pulling him down close enough to kiss. The laughter quickly changed into a moan around Lex's tongue, with Lex rocking back against Clark's cock.

"What do you want?" Lex asked softly, rubbing himself against Clark's belly, leaving a hot, wet trail across Clark's skin. "Anything, Christ. Give you anything."

And Clark felt frustrated for a second that Lex wanted him to _think_ right now until his words lodged themselves in Clark's brain. He made a sound high in his throat and nearly drove himself crazy trying to run his palms over all of Lex at once, over his smooth scalp, biceps, strong back, up his thighs. He tugged Lex's bottom lip into his mouth and sucked, letting it go so he could say, "Your hand, god. Your mouth. Anything. Just --"

Just that Clark was going to come very soon.

Lex slithered down Clark's body, sucking and biting as he went. Clark's collarbone, a nipple, just below his belly button. And then Lex's mouth was on him. Wet. Hot. Lex making liquid sounds that vibrated against his cock. Smooth and Lex was doing something with his tongue that had Clark arching off the bed, knocking a stray pillow to the floor. Lex took him in and swallowed him down, and it was tighter and hotter than anything he'd ever imagined.

Lex's mouth open wide, lips stretched and pursed around Clark's cock. Hands anchoring Clark's hips and just sort of kneading at his skin.

Lex swallowed three times, the muscles contracting hard around Clark's cock. Clark flung his arms wide, hands desperately not holding onto anything because Lex had just blasted his control all to hell.

"Lex," Clark gasped. And then it was too late to worry about hurting Lex because time stopped and he was coming hard and fast down Lex's throat. After a moment, Lex pulled away with a wet slurp. Clark felt heavy and boneless. Overheated, the sweat on his skin still prickling, silence rushing in his ears.

He pulled at Lex as he made his way back up Clark's body. Lex's lips were red and swollen, eyes heavy-lidded. Clark kissed him lazily, then rolled them so Lex was on his back. Clark pulled back a little to look his fill. Lex's skin was pink and flushed all over, making the freckles stand out even more. Clark randomly picked one on Lex's shoulder and licked it. Lex's hand came up to press against the back of his head.

"Clark," Lex hissed. He sounded a little broken. Still hard and poking into Clark's hip.

And. Okay. Clark could do something about that.

He closed his hand around Lex's cock and squeezed. It was firm and warm, familiar but not. Lex grunted and spread his legs wider, hooking his heel around the back of Clark's thigh.

"Harder," Lex said. "You can -- yeah. That. Like that."

Clark squeezed harder, his palm sweating. They were both breathing fast, skin sliding against skin, Lex making sexy turned-on noises in the back of his throat while Clark kissed him. Lex dragged his fingernails down Clark's back, pushing up with his hips into Clark's tight fist. Then Lex's hand closed around his and they were both jacking him off, fingers tangled and twisting around Lex's slick cock.

Lex's mouth formed an 'o', and he pressed his head back into the pillow, eyes squeezing shut. And Lex was coming on both of them, Lex's breath humid and hot on Clark's face. Lex pulled their hands off him but left their sticky fingers entwined.

Clark didn't want to move anytime soon, half on top of Lex, sheets rumpled beneath them. The sweat started to cool, and Clark shivered a little in reaction even though he wasn't cold. Lex made a wordless noise and pulled Clark closer. Clark let his free hand wander and explored the back of Lex's knee with his fingertips, finding it just as soft as he'd thought it would be.

Lex's voice was a little hoarse. "So much for bad karma."

Clark grinned into Lex's neck. "Think your luck's changed?"

"I don't know," Lex said. Clark could hear the smile in his voice. "Giant mutant chicken got lucky. My car got lucky. I got lucky."

"Lex, your car did not get lucky. It blew up. And it took the chicken with it."

"Well, then, _I_ got lucky."

"Yeah," Clark said. "Still gonna sacrifice me to the bull?"

Lex's hand stroked down his back. "No," he said. "No, I think I'll keep you."


End file.
